How to cite: A simple guide for JHC that will do for most things but not all of them

This is a very basic guide to citation for academic paper, or for anything that asks for a source. I’ll also be covering where to find papers.

1.       1. Make Google Scholar your friend

Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.co.in/) is a search engine specifically for academic papers. If you’re looking for, say, studies on internet use, this is what your search results will look like:

Other resources for finding papers are PubMed, JStor, Google Books, etc.

2.      2.  What is citation?

Citing something means saying that something is the source of the information you are providing. Every single thing in your paper needs to be cited, unless it is original empirical research. EVERY SINGLE THING. 

There are many conventions for citation such as APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. We will be following APA.

There are 2 ways you should be citing:

a.       In-text citation

This means you cite the source after writing a fact (or opinion). For example,

The economics of happiness is a complicated subject. Many forms of consumption give more pleasure at first than they do over the long haul. (Layard, 2002)

That thing in brackets is your intext citation. Layard is the last name of the author of the paper you are citing from, and 2002 is the year it was published. If there are two authors, you cite it such: (Layard and Benning, 2002). If there are more than two authors, you cite it such: (Layard et al., 2002).

b.      Referencing at the end

All the papers you have cited, and others that you have consulted but not cited, need to be cited at the end of your paper. This is usually not as easy as the above. For example, the above paper will be referenced like this:

Layard, R. (2005). Rethinking public economics: The implications of rivalry and habit. Economics and Happiness, 147-170.

This includes name of the paper, the name of the journal, the page numbers in the journal, sometimes the issue number. There’s a set format, but don’t worry – Google makes everything easy. When you search for something on Google Scholar, click on the small “Cite” below the result:

A screen like this opens up:

Simply copy and paste the entry for APA :)

So basically you have to make a section after your paper titles “References” and write all the references like this in alphabetical order (of the author’s last name).

And that’s it! Remember – cite everything. And keep track of where you’re getting info from, so cite as you go. It looks daunting but I promise it isn’t!

Good luck.

The other Narendra

Narendra Dabholkar, Maharashtra's most prolific anti-corruption crusader, was shot down today. We don't know who did it yet.

I remember watching Dabholkar a few years ago on some news channel, battling alone with about a dozen TV astrologers. It was the most frustrating thing I've ever watched, and for Dabholkar to keep refuting senseless "arguments" over and over again must have been soul-crushing.

It is saddening that a man of his caliber had to deal with demonstrating how babas and tantriks' tricks were tricks for a great chunk of his life. It is saddening that this had to happen in Pune, Maharashtra's cultural capital. Even more saddening is that pictures attempting to understand the "real story" behind Nathuram Godse have been doing the rounds on the internet for the longest time and that everyone bought into it, never questioning its implications on the acceptance of violence and religious chauvinism.

So far the BJP's and Shiv Sena's statements have been to the tune of, "We disagreed with his views, but they shouldn't have killed him." This is no less than these parties openly stating they disagree with the removal of superstition.

There are plenty of people on TV emphatically stating that Dabholkar, although an atheist, never campaigned against religion, only superstition - but what if he had campaigned against religion? Does India allow its people to kill dissenters of religion, or even those working to peacefully limit the influence of religion on public life?

But the overarching feeling is that of powerlessness - I cannot register my disgust at what has happened, except perhaps through my vote. A few days ago I was beginning to wonder if I'd like to give the BJP a chance, maybe see if economic reforms could actually happen. But now I'd just like to emphasize that although it would be really nice if we were led by someone with supposedly amazing economic and administrative policies, there are things that are more important than growth and wealth - a rich, Talibanised India is not worth it. Stop calling politicians who support minorities "pseudo-secular"; I'd rather take pseudo-secular than those who openly challenge the idea of India.

Image credit: www.antisuperstition.org

Bloodthirst

It is somewhat terrifying that an entire country rises up to demand the killing of a man. No matter how unworthy of life that man may be, no matter how diabolical his deeds, no matter how much better the world might be without him, I find it hard to believe that Gandhi's India wants a hanging so badly. What happened to our ideals? What happened to thinking and taking decisions independent of emotions like anger? Revenge is so acceptable it's scary. I know he's killed many people but that's not how the world should work. That's not how this country should work.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, doesn't it? And even if there are no immediate problems our world is going to face if we hang Kasab, wanting a death so badly is far from a good sign. It is not what we should be doing as humans, but perhaps these are what our failings are: doing absolutely stupid things, hating, acting out of hatred.

Gah. I feel like a moralizing, insufferable person.

P.S. Please don't tell me I don't understand the grief of the families who lost loved ones. It was my city he attacked.

To everyone who does not like History

Maybe I am some sort of mutant, but whenever someone says
Why study History?
History is useless;
One more year and I'll be rid of History;

or even

Social studies sucks;
Civics is so boring;
Economics boggles the mind;

I am very tempted to commit the dual offences of assault and battery, with a superior expression on my face.

I must admit that until two years ago I didn't have a definite answer to "Why study History?" except "Because you should." Now I do.

1.) Wouldn't you have a feeling of being lost if you didn't know what all happened in the world before you graced it with your presence? Picture this: you arrive at a party and everyone's deep in conversation about something that happened five minutes ago. Wouldn't you ask what happened? Or would you be content standing in the corner and observing the proceedings?

2.) History answers all your questions about why people behave the way they do and why the world is like it is. If you studied the History of the caste system and all uprisings against untouchability, you would understand one of the gravest and potentially divisive problems India faces today, one that affects you.

3.) History helps you make sense of the news. A combination of History and all those other boring sucking mind-boggling subjects would make your newspaper look more like a sensible document than a cipher. If you think you're getting along quite well without History, you're wrong. You're probably not getting half the context.

Also History isn't all about dates. With syllabi changing across the country, it is now almost nothing about dates.

I haven't added an image because I'm not sure about the copyright, but I'm sure I can add a link:
http://www.phanitetali.com/blog/?p=1101

Other image sources: vizconsult.wordpress.com , visualphotos.com , sandrabailey.com, newscircle.co.uk

So you thought I had writer's block?

I didn't. While all of you have been languishing for want of a blog post from me, and wondering if I was alive, I have been secretly writing for The NRI. And I got published! Click on the underlined text for the post: Coaching class mania

And yes, I do have delusions of grandeur.

For all of you who don't click on random underlined links without sufficient reason, here's the teaser: As education in schools deteriorates, a silent new player is taking over the industry sans regulation.

Exciting, eh? No? It doesn't matter, no one's yet put a cap on the number of links you can click in a day. So, go ahead and click. (And also read and comment if you feel like it.)

What Sonia Gandhi should say about the Lokpal - by Shakespeare

Poor Sonia Gandhi. She's barely recovering and people, including politicians of every hue, can't wait to hear what she has to say about the Lokpal. Now to ensure that her speech doesn't end up being a dud like Rahul Gandhi's, she needs help from no less a man than Shakespeare.

Facebookers, protestors, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury the Congress, not praise it.
The noble Anna
Hath told you the Congress was corrupt:
And grievously hath the Congress answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Anna and the rest--
For Anna is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men (and woman)--
Come I to speak in the Congress's funeral.
Manmohan Singh hath brought liberalisation home to India
Whose benefits did the national coffers fill:
Did this in Manmohan seem cowardly?
But Anna says he was a coward;
And Anna is an honourable man.
But yesterday the word of the Congress might
Have stood against the world; now lies it there
With none so poor to do it reverence.

I didn't write anymore because it started sounding like Congress propaganda. I was going to substitute NREGA for Caesar's will.

Image source: www.thecandideye.wordpress.com

Lokpal: A superflous and dangerous institution

What the Lokpal is:
More bureaucracy. It isn't as if there are no constitutional provisions against corruption. You can always lodge a complaint with the police. To those cynical people who believe the police have no power whatsoever, there's the CBI. For those anarchists who don't trust the CBI either, I don't see why you would be ready to put all your trust in the Lokpal. 


Either you have a democracy, or you have a system that recognises merit and nothing else. The problem with the latter is that everybody's definition of "merit" is not the same. Who would you want to head the Lokpal? Anna Hazare?


If not him, how is it to be decided who forms the Lokpal? Elections? Why, then, do we not trust our Parliament which is, after all, popularly elected?


The proposed Lokpal bill states: 

1. Members will be appointed by judges, Indian Administrative Service officers with a clean record, private citizens and constitutional authorities through a transparent and participatory process.
2. A selection committee will invite shortlisted candidates for interviews, videorecordings of which will thereafter be made public.

Who decides what a clean record is? Which private citizens are allowed to apply? Which process is more transparent and participatory than elections on the basis of UAF? Who decides which people comprise of the selection committee?

The point is, let's not get out on the streets for an institution that will have the powers to lord over everyone in the nation, including our judiciary. How difficult do you think it is going to be to stall the process of speedy justice by simply wailing at the Lokpal's door? That is precisely why the Constitution provides so many safeguards for the judiciary.


Image source: http://www.news4u.co.in/

India Today - 2

1.) What will increase Hina Rabbani Khar's prestige?
Being renamed to Hina Rabbani Colaba.

2.) Why isn't Yeddyurappa resigning?
He still hasn't finished reading the almost 30,000-page Lokayukta report against him. How slow of him. And then they wonder why court cases drag on in India.

3.) When will Sachin make his hundredth hundred?
Hopefully before Chetan Bhagat stops making lists, because that means never.

Also check out: Predicti-wood and India Today
Image source: kim-kardashians.blogspot.com

Don't rename it, please.

It all started like this. We were in a History class, studying the Maratha period.

History teacher: What is Churchgate called?

Us: Churchgate.

History teacher: You got that one wrong. It's called Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk.

For one thing, that solved a mystery. I had wondered in vain why my BEST bus tickets always said Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk instead of Churchgate. It never struck me that that was Churchgate.

I've been noticing that renaming streets and localities is often ridiculous. Did you know that Marine Drive is now called Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg? Are we supposed to say, "Look, we have a free lecture. Let's go to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg!"? Apparently not, beause they very smartly shortened it to NSC Bose Marg.

Calling the road that linked Andheri to Kurla the "Andheri-Kurla road" was a very sensible thing to do. But no. It got renamed to Sir Mathurdas V Marg. Now there is a very slim chance that we may go home and Google Sir Mathurdas, or Nashikrao Tirpude, or Nathibai Thakersey. Or even Dr. Deshmukh (that being a little difficult). Very slim. But it is so much easier to just tell the taxi driver to take you to Pedder Road. While I haven't been brave enough to tell one of them to take me to Dr. Deshmukh Road yet, I'm sure they're going to ogle, nastily.

Do you think it's a sense of misplaced patriotism that leads to this? It isn't 1947, after all. What the British built the British built. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has nothing to do with it.

Image source: www.community.animaxindia.com

It's Jaai

I have a love-hate relationship with A. R. Rahman. I love him because he made people forget a very popular nickname of mine: Jai Mata Di. I hate him because he gave me another: Jai Ho. (Pretend you know nothing about rap.)

The worst part is that I cannot legitimately blame anyone. My lawyer will simply look all crestfallen and tell me, in a nearly inaudible whisper, that my name is indeed spelt Jai. Officially. On all the documents that matter. But it is spelt Jaai on Facebook, I'll tell him loudly. What's Facebook? he'll say. I'll fire him.

I don't deny that it is an excellent conversation-starter.
Hi, my name is Jaai.
Zaai?
Yes.
How do you spell it?
J-A-I.
Jai?
No.
*awkward smile*

And this is how introdutions happen:
Hey, meet my friend Jaai. Her name is spelt J-A-I. *maniacal laugh*

Sigh. I'll get back at you all.

Image source: sosickofdebt.wordpress.com

What makes your life interesting?

Maybe it is because colleges are reopening shortly and I have done nothing at all of any consequence during the holidays, but I'm thinking a lot about whether my time on earth has been, will be, worth anything.

When one thinks about what makes one's life interesting, one usually remembers one particular habit, achievement, memory or person. What if that habit, achievement, memory or person did not exist? Would your life still be interesting? Would it, for example, make a fascinating, or at least inspirational, book? Have you any funny or thrilling anecdotes to one day tell your grandchildren? Could you rival How I Met Your Mother?

Philantrophy is a possible answer. I remember attending this Philosophy lecture where we all agreed that one good deed done everyday can make the world a better place to live in. It can also make your life a more eligible topic for conversation.

Image source: http://www.crestock.com/

How to get admission into the college of your choice

Or do anything at all, really. Five foolproof methods:


1.) Get caught by customs officials: Try to carry super-expensive shoes or sackfuls of jewellery out of the airport. Get investigated by customs officials and praise them for good measure. Get printed. Now you are famous enough to bag a management seat.

2.) Watch an India versus West Indies match: You'll immediately be catapulted into the rarest of rare status. Get in through the sports quota.

3.) Demand an environment quota: and insist you must get a seat though it because you wrote a blog post on World Environment Day.

4.) Throw a shoe at the admissions official, and miss: Not the expensive shoe you carried out of the airport, though. Get media attention and cry in front of the cameras. Say you are a journalist in the making. Your admission process will be magically completed.

5.) Go on a hunger strike: Ensure that you have less than 50,000 followers or the government will beat them up. Demand a fundamental right to admission in your preferred college. You'll get it.

Image source: www.jamespot.com

All that Baba-ness

Don't you see a similarity between Baba Ramdev advocating good morals and Chetan Bhagat writing an article on how to improve your English? I can, however, tolerate bad English much better than I can tolerate someone becoming rich in the name of spirituality.

As for accepting the support of Khap panchayats, that alone ought to discredit the Baba. The Khap panchayats directly order the cold-blooded killing of young people who marry within their gotra. Of course the government hasn't done anything about them, behaving as it is like a schoolteacher and grandmother rolled into one: you can't drink until you're 25 (that's just the Maharashtra government, I concede) and you can't ever marry according to your will.

Quitting the rambling, though, Baba Ramdev is behaving a lot like an unscrupulous politician, only caring about support and not about from where he gets it. The number of "jeeps arriving from Haryana" seems more important than his actual demands. We do have one thing to be thankful about: his farce lends more gravity to the Hazare campaign, perhaps because of the contrast.

Image source: www.newsyolk.com

It's raining, it's raining...

It's June, and the monsoons are almost here. In a few days the rain will drown every other sound. You will look out of your balcony and find the world mysterious and shrouded; only masked, though, because everything is still the same, people are going to work and going for movies.

There will be rain songs on the radio on the first day but you will eventually tire of them. Artists and poets will revel in the inspiration. A broken heart will run into many editions, quoting Oscar Wilde.

There will be people whose roofs leak and people who have no roofs at all, and these people will curse the rain. There will be children battling fever or something more sinister, and there will be children playing in the rain, laughing.

A few people will walk slowly in the streets, giving the rain every opportunity to cleanse them, praying for it to do so. Bikers feeling brave will fly past them. Trains will run with their doors and windows closed.

Colourful umbrellas will resist grey skies, and deep down, everyone will be glad, because the monsoons are eventful, and that is what this city thrives on.

P.S. : Deviating from usual policy, I am supporting violence: the death sentence handed out for an honour killing. Also traffic police being provided arms.

Predicti-wood

1.) My name is Kahn, and I am not a sex-offender.

2.) Obama, to Pakistan's sovereignty: Frankly, m'dear, I don't give a damn.

3.) Indian intelligence, or lack thereof: Terrorists se darr nahin lagta saab, RTI se lagta hai.

Ode to Awesome

I was reading a blog post today and I was awed by it. Now what would I comment? "Awesome," right? Wrong. Awesome sounds entirely wrong...and it makes me sound like a bimbo. Or like a ten year old boy from Delhi who's just discovered that talking in English is "cool." No wait, "cool" is outdated. He disovered that talking in English is awesome.

My predicament about commenting reminded me of this Reader's Digest joke (you know, the ones they put below depressingly sensational or sensationally depressing stories to cheer you up?): How did "awesome" end up among such stalwarts of the English language such as and and the? (They named two more stalwarts but I can't remember them. Sorry.) And they were right. Everywhere you go: "Awesome!"

A new dress is awesome, a new house is awesome, a cotton candy is awesome, Katrina Kaif is awesome. What would Shakespeare think? Dan Brown got it right: Someone should ban that word.

Please let's stop using this word in every other sentence and reserve it for when we're really awed. (Most people who use "awesome" don't know what being awed means. For them: Say "Awe." That's what you look like when you're awed.) And please let's not confuse it with "Awful." (Some people do. Honestly.)

Image source: http://catcubed.com/


Oh, and no posts till the 27th of May; or possibly the 24th. One must attend weddings.

Taslima Nasreen and Poribartan

Taslima Nasreen seems to be cashing in on West Bengal's good publicity, and she doesn't care how. When the election results were declared, she tweeted quite ecstatically: Three cheers for Mamata! Three cheers for women of strength! (No, how can you say she's referring to herself as well?)


And also: Hope is walking hand-in-hand with a dream.


And for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: How come Buddhadeb is losing! He threw me out of West Bengal for Muslim votes! And of course she adds the dramatic: Ah! Nightmare!


I grant all this is nothing. I sympathise with her and grieve that she was punished for exercising her right to freedom of expression. However, must we be subjected to her mood swings, IN PRINT? Today she writes for the Times of India:


"We know that if there was not killing or rape in Singur and Nandigram and if the media were not publicizing these atrocities, it would not have been so easy to defeat CPM in the polls."--Why, shouldn't the media have reported killing and rape?


And she's apparently thinking she was too hard on the communists on Twitter, because she writes: "34 years in power is long enough to make sane people insane." That is the most absurd justification I have ever heard for killing and rape, unless she meant that power had softened their brains.


And about hope walking hand-in-hand with a dream? She says that the people of West Bengal are only hoping for superficial change. Sure, whatever Taslima hopes for is the only right thing for which to hope. The hopes of the masses don't matter.


Yes, she is a writer. A well-acclaimed writer at that. That would have entitled her to let the whole nation know her opinion IN PRINT, had she sounded even a little writer-y. But any person who obliges a newspaper to use (sic) after quoting them loses that entitlement. Also any person who wastes paper, thus:


I am an optimist.
And after a few lines,
I am not a pessimist.


Thank you, we figured that out.


Image soure: http://www.piceye.com/

Wodehouse in Bengal

Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fleming as Bertie and Jeeves

After one of Jeeves's sensational pick-me-ups, I could begin to think clearly.

"Where was I last night, Jeeves?"

"At Mr. Pirbright's residence, sir. Mr. Pirbright had announced a celebration to acknowledge the termination of the Marxist stronghold in the Indian state of West Bengal, sir."

I confess I was at sea.

"West Bengal, Jeeves?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, what about it?"

"Mr. Pirbright, sir, I understand, is significantly anti-communist. He was ecstatic at receiving news of Lady Banerjee's victory."

"A woman, Jeeves?" The set-up seemed rummy. "Does she believe that the stars are God's daisy chain?"

"I would assume not, sir. Lady Banerjee does not express herself in rhyme. She shows a marked disposition towards the reflection of life on canvas."

"A painter, you mean?"

"Precisely, sir."


I right-hoed, and after a few minutes of forking a thoughtful plate of eggs and bacon, I put my gentleman's gentleman another question.

"Surely she is someone's aunt?"

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Lady Banerjee,"

"The possibility cannot be ruled out, sir."

"Aunts," I told the fellow solemny, "aren't gentlemen."

"I fear not, sir. Lady Banerjee has been heard referring to herself as a common man."

"You mean like a cartoon?"

"Not quite, sir. She--"

"I get the drift, Jeeves. So there is change brewing in West Bengal?"

"It seems so, sir. The Marxist rule has been reported to have stalled development."

I mused a bit. "What was it the poet said about hope, Jeeves? Something about silver."

"Sweet hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head."

"That's the one, Jeeves. I see your memory is as tickety-boo as ever. Still eating fish, what?"

"Yes, sir."

"From the Bay of Bengal, eh?"

"The finest, sir."

Help a Child to Study

If you're reading (and understanding) this, you've received the benefit of education. Everyone else isn't so lucky, even if they are smarter than most of us. Unable to pay for higher eduation, they miss out on career opportunities, not to mention that all their brilliance and talent goes to waste. Help a Child to Study is an NGO based in Mumbai that makes it possile for underprivileged children to get educated. They are looking for your support.




Help A Child to Study sponsors the higher education of meritorious underprivileged students, supporting them to achieve dreams of a better future. We sponsor all formal courses above 10th, including 11th and 12th, diploma courses, degree courses, B.E., M.B.B.S. and Postgrad. Through education our students are able to escape the cycle of poverty through their own talents.


Details: We are very proud of our students - who are the children of labourers, small scale farmers, weavers and other families with low incomes. These students have enormous potential to succeed and only need financial support to do so. We are thrilled that today some of our graduates are placed with large companies such as Mahindra Tech, L&T, and TATA Consultancy Services.


Support: Education, higher education, sponsorship of students.


Note: We are looking for financial donations to support the higher education of our students, most of whom live in rural areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka.


This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://adda.at/BSRRBS and support the NGO's.

It will be a far, far better thing that you will do than you have ever done (at least in your summer vacations :P ).

Just not Tinkle

Tinkle--The Defective Detectives

"Summer vacation are on!" --I affirm, tearfully, that this sentence appeared in Tinkle, that children's magazine I believed was the apostle of correct grammar. Tinkle, a symbol that could denote my childhood!

Uncle Pai (Anant Pai)

We miss you, Uncle Pai. Your magazine is simply not the erudite and fun companion it once was. I resent the presence of millions of advertisements (McDonald's in my Tinkle!) and I will not condone it saying you're hard up, new Tinkle editors/money-makers. If so many brands are sponsoring you and if you can afford to arrange Samsung Corby giveaways (to kids), why did you have to increase the price of the magazine? That's such a far cry from Uncle Pai's attempts at printing a black-and-white Tinkle that poorer children could afford.


I echo Salman Rushdie: "Is nothing sacred anymore?" Why is the Readers Write column now called the Tinkle Mail Box with the @ symbol on top? Why do I see speech balloons filled with:

"...HE LOOKED AT ME AND MADE A THREATENING GESTURE. 

HE IS AFTER MY LIFE. SAVE ME, O MASTER!

?

Tinkle was never a Marvel comic; why all the italics? 

Most of the stories are still good, though; the old writers and illustrators are still present and features like "It Happened To Me" and "Tinkle Tells You Why" are mercifully still thriving.


You may say I'm creating unnecessary ruckus over one mistake that could have been a typo, after all. But it can also become a trendsetter, and that keeps me awake at night. You may also ask why I still read Tinkle, but my sister subscribes to it and it's right there in front of me and Janoo and Wooly Woo are on the cover and it takes only ten minutes and it's Tinkle...almost. I just hope it doesn't turn into another Champak, depriving my sister and thousands of other kids of a magazine that can shape lives.